New York Attorney General Letitia James and New Jersey Acting Attorney General Jennifer Davenport have filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Trump administration regarding the $16 billion Hudson Tunnel Project. The administration has stopped funding for the project, which could result in construction on the project coming to a halt as soon as Feb. 6.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. It names as defendants: the U.S. Department of Transportation and Sean Duffy in his official capacity as Secretary of Transportation; the Federal Railroad Administration and David Fink in his official capacity as Administrator of the Federal Railroad Administration; The Federal Transit Administration and Marcus J. Molinaro in his official capacity as Administrator of the Federal Transit Administration; Build America Bureau and Dr. Morteza Farajian in his official capacity as Executive Director of the Build America Bureau.
The lawsuit says that on Sept. 30, the Trump administration announced an abrupt and indefinite freeze on federal funding for the project, halting millions of dollars in reimbursements that Congress had already approved. After four months of covering costs with limited operating funds, the plaintiffs warn that construction will be forced to completely shut down as soon as Feb. 6 unless federal funding resumes. New York and New Jersey are seeking emergency relief to prevent construction from grinding to a halt.
“Allowing this project to stop would put one of the country’s most heavily used transit corridors at risk,” said James. “Our tunnels are already under strain and losing this project could be disastrous for commuters, workers, and our regional economy. We are taking the administration to court to prevent a shutdown that would ripple far beyond New York and New Jersey.”
The Hudson Tunnel Project is the central component of the Gateway Program, a long-planned effort to revitalize Hudson River rail travel. The project will repair the 116-year-old North River tunnel and build a new tunnel beneath the Hudson River. The tunnel was severely damaged during Superstorm Sandy and continues to deteriorate, causing frequent service disruptions and emergency maintenance that impact hundreds of thousands of commuters. Construction on the Hudson Tunnel Project began in 2023 and is currently underway across multiple active sites in New York and New Jersey.
New York and New Jersey have already invested hundreds of millions of dollars in the project, and the federal government has awarded more than $16 billion in total funding through multiple grant and loan programs.
James says that a shutdown of the Hudson Tunnel Project would have immediate and far-reaching consequences for New Yorkers and the entire region. Thousands of workers across New York and New Jersey could lose their jobs, and the states would face monumental new costs if forced to temporarily shut down construction sites or permanently terminate them. Any stoppage and restart of work on a project of this scale would dramatically raise costs and risk wasting years of planning and hundreds of millions of dollars already invested.
